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economics
You value an object more once it becomes yours.
The endowment effect shows that ownership increases your valuation of an item, even if you acquired it moments ago.
In a 1990 experiment, participants were given a mug and then asked the price at which they would sell it. They consistently demanded twice as much as others were willing to pay to buy the same item.
Your attachment to things often blinds you to their market value.
Where this comes from
- Study
- Kahneman, Knetsch, and Thaler, 1990, Journal of Political Economy
- What the check found
- The seminal 1990 paper by Kahneman, Knetsch, and Thaler is correctly cited. While skeptics exist regarding the interpretation, the original findings are accurately described.
- Confidence
- Well replicated
Related
One of these every day, and every one names the study it came from. When a finding is contested, it says so.